Travis Simms will step back into the ring after a two-year break to take on Jose Antonio Rivera for the WBA super welterweight title on the 6th of January.
The all-US fight is on the under-card of the heavyweight clash of Nigerian Samuel Peter and America’s boxing legend: James Toney. Simms grabbed the WBA title from Mexico’s Alejandro Garcia back in 2003 and defended it once before it was stripped in 2005 for failing to challenge Garcia a second time around.
Rivera beat Garcia for the belt last May and is now making his very first defence. 35-year-old Simms has a record of 24 wins from 24 fights of which 18 came by way of knockout, whereas Rivera, who is two years younger, has lost four and drawn one of his 43 bouts and has won 24 by way of knockout. Rivera held onto the WBA welterweight title for 19 months thanks to opponents pulling out or failing to make weight. But when he eventually returned to the ring, fellow American Luis Collazo beat him with a split decision; which pushed Rivera to move up a weight division and now brings him against Simms. But can Rivera really pull out what is needed in order to win after moving up and weight and having such a long break.
Please leave your own thoughts on the Simms – Rivera clash at the bottom of the page.
